How to Set Up Chrome OS’ “Smart Unlock” (Or Unlock Chromebook When Your Phone is Nearby)

Smart Unlock, which Google used to call “Easy Unlock” is now live and available on your Chromebook. This showed up in the dev channel sometime back, but never worked for me. Yesterday I told you all that this feature is now part of the Chrome Admin Console. Today, thanks to, I tried this again. And yes, it worked!

What is Smart Unlock

Smart Unlock is a proximity based unlock system for Chrome OS. You can set up your Chromebook to unlock without entering password when your phone is near by. It works only with Android for now.

I have a fairly simple password set up for my home pc. It is not a big deal entering that to login. (I use it rarely, that also helps!) But on my Chromebook, I have ti enter my complex (I hope!) Google account password each time I login or unlock the screen.

Enter Smart Unlock. I set this up connecting my Nexus 4. Or, I authorize my Nexus 4 to unlock the Chromebook. My phone becomes something like a physical password.

When you say unlock using phone, it does not mean that the login screen goes away and desktop is displayed. It just keeps the device unlocked, with a green lock screen, next to the login button. You need to click this to login to the device. On the phone, a message is displayed to let you know that your Chromebook was unlocked using your phone.

And yes, you can always unlock using your password when the phone is not nearby.

Requirements

You will need the following:

Chromebook with Chrome OS 40 with Bluetooth and

Android phone with Android 5.0 and Bluetooth

How to Unlock Your Chromebook Using Your Android Phone or Tablet

Here is how to set this up:

Go to Settings and search for Smart Unlock

Click Set Up Smart Unlock

Enable Bluetooth on your phone, and make sure that it is “visible” to other devices